Lawmaker targets remedial college courses

A bill being considered at the Capitol would help identify schools where students are graduating short of being college ready.

The bill from state Representative John Jagler (R-Watertown) would require the UW System to collect data on students who are forced to take remedial math and English courses, while identifying what high school they graduated from. The Watertown Republican says it’s a bigger issue than many people realize, with more than 20 percent of high school seniors taking placement tests finding out they will need to take a remedial course in one of those subjects.

Under the proposal, the UW would report that data to the Legislature and Department of Public Instruction. Jagler says “the hope here is to start a dialogue to start to reverse this trend.”

The state Assembly approved the bill last week. It now heads to the Senate.